First Parish Church of Stow and Acton sells apple pies

An annual fall tradition is back at the First Parish Church of Stow and Acton: famous apple pies.

Last Friday, Rebecca Stadolnik said, volunteers baked 80 pies in three hours, using synchronized precision and lots of chatter and laughter.

“It’s like an assembly line,” she said.

Christine Quirk

An annual fall tradition is back at the First Parish Church of Stow and Acton: famous apple pies.

Last Friday, Rebecca Stadolnik said, volunteers baked 80 pies in three hours, using synchronized precision and lots of chatter and laughter.

“It’s like an assembly line,” she said.

To make that many pies, one needs many cooks. Stadolnik has coordinated the project for the last two years, but she said she must give credit to the many other helpers, including Liz Mosely, who coordinates the peelers; Marcia Rising, who oversees the bakers; Sue Abrahamsen, who mixes the spices; Mary Evans, who arranges the selling and Barbara Raab who coordinates bagging all the pies at the end. In addition, Jim Isenberg is in charge of dough making.

The process takes several days. On Tuesday night, the “dough boys” come in and make the crust, and though women are certainly welcome, right now, Stadolnik said, it happens to be all men.

The recipe they use came from a professional baker, who was once part of the congregation, Isenburg said.

“One year, we used sheep lard, but aside from that, we’ve always used shortening,” he said. “Now we’re all trans-fat.”

It takes three people about 90 minutes to mix all the dough, which is then bagged and refrigerated. The bakers cut off sections and roll it out as needed.

Along with perfecting the crust recipe, Isenburg said, the baker arranged for the purchase of a professional convection oven, which can bake 20 pies at a time. That and a heavy-duty food scale ensure uniformity.

Though Isenberg said he’s been in charge of the “dough boys” for about a dozen years, he started out “picking and peeling” like everyone else.

“My first year was 1972, and at that time, all the peeling was done in the vestry on Friday mornings,” Mosley remembered. “When they asked me to roll the dough, it was like a status symbol.”

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, volunteers go out to Shelburne Farms, the only local orchard to donate apples, to pick up Cortlands for the pies. Thursday evenings are devoted to peeling all the apples.

On Friday mornings, it all comes together. The pies are made, weighed and baked, then set out in the church hall to cool. On Friday evenings, more volunteers come to bag them. Each pie weighs three pounds.

The process has come a long way in the last four decades.

“When we first started, we made them at home and brought them in to sell,” Rising said. “We thought we were doing well to have 20 pies.”

Not only do the pies sell out each week, Stadolnik said, for some families, they are part of their holiday traditions.

“We have people who buy every year, freeze them, and then take them to Thanksgiving dinner and pass them off as their own,” she said. “They tell us we can never stop doing this.”

A community of bakers

Over the years, the pies have come to symbolize more than a successful fundraiser, though it does account for $4,000 of the church’s yearly budget.

“Unitarian churches take a break in the summer and we come together in the fall,” Stadolnik said. “It’s a great way to reconnect. If you want to know what’s going on, come bake pies on Friday mornings.”

“What’s said in the kitchen stays in the kitchen,” Mosely added, “but you have to be in the kitchen to hear it.”

Some of the volunteers have been taking part in the camaraderie and baking since 1972 and said there are advantages, in addition to the good company.

“I like the tasting afterward,” Ruth Landry joked. “We have to have our quality control.”

The bakers have been extending the tasting to the members of the Murray Brothers construction crew, which has been working on a major renovation project at the church.

The men said this was their first work break, which included coffee in real cups and homemade pie. Worker John Connolly declared it “the best pie I’ve ever had” and the men joked about taking a picture of them relaxing and sending it to their boss.